“The People!—The People is a Great Beast!”

David Sirota points out here that the Brookings Institution has launched something called “The Hamilton Project” led by Robert Rubin.

Looking at it, you can tell right away who the Hamilton Project is for: Wall Street Democrats. Or as I like to call them, “The Party of Gay Investment Bankers and Corporate Lawyers Whose Grandfathers Worked in the Roosevelt Administration.” (In fact, by my count, its advisory council includes twelve investment bankers.) They’re people who should naturally be Republicans, but just can’t bear having to hang out with Pat Robertson.

The funny thing is, they’re apparently desperate to make this clear. Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE CALLING THEMSELVES “THE HAMILTON PROJECT.”

Let’s ask the Democratic Party’s own website to explain the significance of this:

Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party in 1792 as a congressional caucus to fight for the Bill of Rights and against the elitist Federalist Party.

The “elitist Federalist Party,” of course, was founded by Jefferson’s chief rival Hamilton.

Moreover, if you only take one thing away from seventh-grade history, it’s that Jefferson was the small-d democrat, while Hamilton famously exclaimed “The People!—The People is a Great Beast!” Hopefully that can be used as the title for all the Hamilton Project’s proposals for free trade, balanced budgets and school vouchers:

“The People is a Great Beast!”: A Plan for Economic Prosperity for 21st Century America

It’s not that I don’t feel for Robert Rubin & co. Times are tough for rich people who aren’t completely insane. They understand the insane rich are ascendant and well on their way to destroying everything.
In fact, this is probably the longest-running debate in American history:

Insane Rich: Let’s kill everyone and take their money! 

Non-Insane Rich: I like the way you think. I really do. But if we keep them alive and working for us, we’ll make even more money in the long run. 

Insane Rich: You communist!

Still, it might be nice if the Democratic party didn’t get all its ideas from people who hate Democrats. But don’t get your hopes up. Here’s the one senator who spoke at the Hamilton Project launch:

You can see the whole speech at the link just above the Youtube.

h/t to GP at Americablog who also found this interesting quote from Politico in 2010:

The [Hamilton Project’s] research, so far, would be familiar to students of the first Clinton administration: creative, wonky proposals for softening the impact of globalization without interfering with international trade, most of them crafted with an eye to fiscal austerity and a balanced budget.

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